"walker! you look great, my man!" the red carpet interviewer said, making walker laugh. interviewers these days were so much more personal, something he liked much more than the stiff, robotic people that had interviewed him in his earlier days as a child actor, or even a few minutes ago. some of these people were way too serious for halloween.

"thank you so much."

"let me take a wild guess, you're percy jackson?" he quipped. 

"how did you know?" walker said. the interviewer chuckled. 

"so how's filming going for season 2?" he inquired.

"it's been pretty good. i think we're at the beginning of the end of filming, because we're on the last couple episodes. uh, it's been hard work, but it's been an amazing experience, and all of our new actors and crew members have really taken it to the next level."

"that's great. and speaking of new actors, you're in a relationship with co-star kaitlyn bright, correct? how's that going?"

walker's face lit up. despite the fact that she was being weird earlier, he felt a rush from hearing her name and being able to talk about their relationship. "it's going amazing. she's my best friend. you know, she's so talented and funny and obviously beautiful, and i've liked her for so long, so it's- it's really great. sorry, i'm kind of excited, this is the first time i've been able to talk about her in an interview."

the interviewer laughed. "it's fine. that's really sweet. it's been wonderful, you know, being able to watch you two grow up and fall in love, i think, for a lot of the public eye. so, your costar leah jeffries, who plays annabeth, is dressed up as her tonight, right?"

"yes, she is. we thought it was appropriate for our first public halloween as percy and annabeth. although her costume looks much better than mine. i stole all of this from set."

the interviewer laughed. "you and leah have such an interesting dynamic. it's clear that you two are very close, almost like siblings. did kaitlyn mind you two going in what is essentially a couples' costume for your first halloween as an official couple?"

"no, she-" walker's eyes widened as realization hit. the tiktoks and pinterest costumes. the disappointment. the shortened words. that's what this was about. she'd been so excited for this halloween all year, especially the past few weeks. how hadn't he noticed? he looked like a deer caught in headlights. his expression at that moment was so shocked that it would later become a meme in the pjo community.

"walker?"

"no, yeah, sorry, i have to go. thank you!" he excused himself quickly and ran off, darting in between people taking pictures and being interviewed. there's a picture of him darting in front of a smiling millie bobby brown just as her picture was being taken that would later become a viral meme across the whole world. he was really gaining a lot of publicity here.

he spotted kaitlyn walking off towards the actual party in her last minute yet gorgeous little red riding hood costume, practically sprinted towards her, and grabbed her hand. she spun around. "walker, wha-"

he kissed her for a few seconds, a kiss full of emotion and apology. cameras flashed, and he knew this picture was going to end up everywhere, but he didn't even care. apologizing to her was all that mattered.

she pulled away, blushing, all of her anger seemingly evaporated. "what was that for?"

"i'm so sorry. the costumes. you were so excited to do a costume together and i completely forgot about it and i didn't even realize when i was making you upset." he said quietly, so that no mics or cameras could pick it up.

she sighed. "it's okay. honestly, it was just petty of me to be mad about it. you look great, leah looks gorgeous, and it makes perfect sense for you two to dress up as them. i just- i'm never jealous of you and leah, because i love her and i know she's a sister to you, but sometimes i'm jealous of this thing you two both have. you're portraying the greatest love story of all time in one of the greatest stories of all time, and you have all these scenes together and the whole world watching, and it's something i'll never get to have with you."

"but what we have is more special than anything i could ever have with anyone else, or any experience i get to have with anyone else. annabeth and percy might have the greatest love story of all time, but i think we're still probably somewhere in the top five." he kissed her forehead. "i love you."

her eyes filled with tears at how genuine his words were. she was filled with more happiness than she probably had in her whole entire life. all of her jealousy seemed to wash away. 

"i love you more."

"impossible." he said, putting an arm around her. "let's go party, huh?"

"yes, please."